Ford Model T Repairs, Fixes, Mishaps and Broken Stuff

This page is dedicated to the trials and tribulations of running Ford Model T cars ... as the saying goes, the only one in a Model T that doesn't look happy is the driver. Anyway it's all fun and below are some stories of the fun we've had over the years.

Fixing The 1909-1911 Reproduction Two Piece Timer

The two piece reproduction timers that are available look very nice, in fact they are show quality. They are an impressive bit of machining, but the issue with them is that if you don't have trailer queen and want to use your car, yet still keep it authentic looking,   you won't get may miles out of one of these timers before your engine is misfiring or just plain won't run at all. This is because the roller and roller pin are made out of very soft metal which wears almost instantly under any use whatsoever.

	Here we see the two piece timer, or commutator. When the engine is running  the commutator roller, attached to the end of the camshaft, runs inside the body of the timer cup. The cup is attached to the spark advance lever. When the roller and pin wear, the commutator body starts to wobble and the wear cycle becomes a downward spiral, getting worse and worse. The result is engine misfire or failure of the engine to run completely, and only after minimal use.
With the fan removed we ca now start to take the timer off the front of the engine.
	This shot shows the commutator cover removed and the nut holding the roller onto the end of the cam shaft. Under normal operation, as the camshaft turns, the roller travels around the cup cross four contacts in turn, which fires each cylinder in order. If  the roller bounces or wobbles, this will cause  loss of contact and misfiring.
Here we see the inside of the commutator cup, or housing.  The cup has been turned on the lathe to remove any rough spots caused by the roller wear.. We lined the housing with an Amco45 bushing.
	The timing gear is exposed in this shot and we see the end of the camshaft. The wobble in the roller caused excessive wear. The roller  was very badly worn because of improper assembly by the 'expert' who rebuilt the engine for us.  To repair the situation, we installed a new spindle nut on the end of the camshaft that we machined to within a few thousands of an inch of the body bushing diameter and reinstalled on the end of the camshaft. It also holds the timing gear in place.
	This shot shows installing new roller axles and roller into the roller assembly. The original roller was made out of very soft metal, which had the durability and hardness of a piece of cheese. We remade axles and the roller out of something much harder that would not wear -- drill rod.
The respun commutator body has been bushed with Amco45, the same material used on marine racing engine bushings.
	To make sure everything runs true, we made a proxy 'camshaft' end, mounted the whole thing in the lathe and turned everything in line to make sure it runs straight.
All back together now, a quick test start before the rad is back on. It runs great and doesn't wobble or misfire like before.

Gas Tank Slushing Compound Horrors

Disclaimer: Please note that there are some products on the market claiming they can be used successfully to seal gas tanks. It is our opinion that the product we used does not resist the alcohol in modern gasoline, and will eventually fail under proper application and normal use. We strongly believe the product in question was given a fair trial, and the manufacturer's instructions were correctly followed. However, your experience with other products may vary.

About two years after restoring one of our cars, in which we 'slushed' the gas tank with sealer that is supposedly resistant to alcohol, we noticed during a routine visit to the pump that the sealer was flaking off inside the tank.

	It basically looked like a bunch of fall leaves in there!
In order to get at the tank on this car, we had to remove the body -- which is a big job! Since the tank was junk because of this, the fastest thing to do was chisel off the sediment bowl. You can see the results. The stuff has coming off in sheets inside the tank and the sediment bowl was full of the crap.

	We thought the best solution, rather than fool around with old tanks and this type of sealer again, was to install a brand new, reproduction gas tank. The sediment bowl is attached to the new tank and the tank can now be put into our car.
All is well that ends well, our new tank is installed back in our car and we are back on the road.

All White Smoothies Are Not Created Equal

The picture to the right is a fairly new (less than 100 miles) Coker brand all white smoothie tyre. As you can see, Coker tyres check up after a few weeks of inflating them to the manufacturer's specifications. We have purchased more than a dozen of these tyres and all had exactly the same problem. And we're not alone. I have yet to hear of anyone having any luck with this product. There is little more disappointing than putting a brand new set of expensive tyres on your favorite car, only to find them all checked up within a few weeks and looking terrible. Don't bother going back to Coker for any compensation, they won't apologize for the lack of quality. It seam like Universals are just as bad now, they used to have a creamier colour (the new ones are a chalky white just like the Cokers) and they check up the same way -- our theory is that both these brands are now made in the same plant in Viet Nam, so I guess we'll just need to wait for a manufacturer that can make these in a quality way, like they used to..